اللغات

Iran: Support Iranian women - demonstration 12 June 2006

We urge individuals and organizations to sign up to support the peaceful protest of Iranian women demanding equal rights.

The petition text reads as follows:

We, the undersigned, would like to express our support for Iranian women in their continued struggle to gain equal rights under the civil and penal codes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Specifically, we support Iranian women in their peaceful protest scheduled for June 12, 2006 demanding the end to all forms of legal discrimination and changes to the following laws:

Banning of polygamy;

Equal divorce rights;

Equal child custody rights for mothers and fathers;

Equal rights in marriage (like women's right to choose her own employment, travel freely, etc);

Increase in the legal age of children to 18 years of age (currently girls are viewed as adults at 9 years of age and boys at 15 years of age, making them eligible to be tried as adults);

Equal value placed on women's testimony in court; and

Elimination of temporary work contracts which disproportionately and negatively impact women.

22nd of Khordad: Iranian Women's Protest Against Sexist Laws

For the past 100 years, since the constitutional period, Iranian women have worked toward achieving their human rights and equal status under the legal system. Despite these efforts, women's most basic rights have been ignored within the Iranian civil and penal codes. Needless to say lack of legal guarantees and equality under the law has imposed severe obstacles and consequences on the lives of Iranian women.

Last year, on the 22nd of Khordad (12th of June, 2005) Iranian women voiced their unanimous objection to all discriminatory laws which violated their human rights. Our voices and demands, however, have been left unanswered. This year, in follow-up to their demands, Iranian women will come together in protest on June 12 th, 2006 to once again ask for their rights. Our demands include:

Banning of polygamy;

Equal right to divorce;

Equal child custody rights for mothers and fathers;

Equal rights in marriage (like women's right to choose her own employment, travel freely, etc);

Increase in the legal age of children to 18 years of age (currently girls are viewed as adults at 9 years of age and boys at 15 years of age, making them eligible to be tried as adults);

Equal value placed on women's testimony in court; and

Elimination of temporary work contracts which disproportionately and negatively impact women.

We ask all individuals who object to the legal violations of women's rights to join this gathering on Monday, 22nd of Khordad, 5–6pm, Haft-e-Tir Square.